Tips & Tricks » leaders, but only six laps down in the GT class

TORONTO - The Raptors locker room was unnervingly quiet Friday evening, about how you would expect it after the implausible ending that sealed the teams fate in a double-overtime disaster. In the back corner sat an inconsolable John Salmons, the elephant in the room. Facing his locker, Salmons slouched forward in his chair, his head down in his hands and a long black towel draped over him. One by one his teammates came over to comfort him, patting him on the back and offering words of encouragement. He didnt move. He remained in that position, perfectly still for over 30 minutes. They win as a team and they lose as a team, but Salmons felt the brunt of it on this night. What seemed like a sure victory late in the second overtime period began to unravel when an exceptional player made an exceptional shot. With the Raptors up by eight, 49 seconds away from an improbable victory and season-sweep of the 50-win Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant banked in a 27-foot three-point jumper. Following another Thunder three - this one courtesy veteran assassin Derek Fisher - Salmons threw away an inbounds pass on the baseline, only to break up Durants runner and get sent to the line. With less than 10 seconds remaining, now up two, Salmons clanked both free throws, paving the way for the leagues leading scorer to do what he does best. Break hearts. "Great players make great plays," Dwane Casey said of Durant, moments after his 31-foot pull-up dagger gave the Thunder a 119-118 victory. Since coming over from Sacramento in December, Salmons has been praised for his poise and veteran savvy late in games, many of which hes helped them win. This was not his finest hour. "Hes a veteran (and) in those situations youve got to believe in him, that hes going to make those free throws," Casey said of Salmons, playing in place of Terrence Ross, who left the game with a hip contusion. "We had to go with John in that situation. Hes been one of our best defenders in that situation, but its not just one guy." The Raptors, now 1-6 in OT this season, need to close out these types of games. Salmons needs to be better down the stretch, they know it and so does he. It was three months ago, almost to this day that the Raptors pulled off their most impressive win of the season, a 104-98 victory in Oklahoma City. Coming off an OT win in Dallas a couple days prior and trailing by as many as 10 in the fourth, Toronto shocked the Thunder, who were undefeated at home at the time. "It helped kick start us going forward," Casey said of that night. "It helped our chemistry, it helped our togetherness it helped blend in the old and the new guys together." It would not have happened if not for Salmons. The 12-year vet spearheaded his new teams comeback, scoring nine points in the final quarter. After the game his teammates raved about his leadership and calming effect on the floor. Kyle Lowry gave him the game ball. Like Patrick Paterson - still out with an injured elbow - Greivis Vasquez, who was spectacular before fouling out Friday, and Chuck Hayes, Salmons fingerprints are all over the teams resurgence and that should not be forgotten, internally or externally. The Raptors proved something to themselves in OKC that night. They proved that they belonged. Three months later, clinging onto the Easts third seed and top spot in the Atlantic Division, they fell just short of proving something to everybody else. For whatever reason the franchise and its fan base has been battered by losses of the devastating variety to the point in which theyre almost immune to them. Toronto has lost 10 straight overtime games at home, an NBA record. "It does (hurt)," Casey admitted, "but we cant let it." "We cant let this game (give us a) hangover. (Its) a big learning experience for our guys. Youre playing with one of the top teams in the league, one of the top players... and you give yourself a chance to win in (double) overtime." KD the magnificent It seems impossible to fathom that Friday once started off as a slow night for Durant. The Thunder forward made just three of his 12 first-half shots but once Russell Westbrook went down in the third quarter - colliding with Lowry and spraining his surgically repaired right knee - Durant, with the help of some generous officiating, completely took over. Durant scored 51 and finished with 12 rebounds and seven assists, getting to the line 19 times and extending his streak of 25 or more points to 34 games, longest since Michael Jordans 40-game run in 1986-87. Amirs memorable game Playing in his 500th career contest, Amir Johnson nearly willed his team to victory. The Raptors forward recorded a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds, connecting on 12 of his 19 shots in 50 minutes of action. He also spent the bulk of the second half guarding Durant, per his own request made after Ross exited with the hip injury. "It was tough, man," he said, asked about defending the leagues leading scorer. "Hes my height, out there shooting from half court. Theres not too much you can do but double team that." "He did a great job," Casey added. "I felt for him. Hes hurt. He was all over him, draped over him. (Durant) made a tough shot. Theres nothing Amir did wrong." The stat For the first time since Jan. 13, 2013, the Raptors had four players score 20 or more points. Along with Johnson, DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors with 33 points, hitting all but one of his 16 free throws, while Lowry added 25 and Vasquez scored 21 off the bench. The quote "We couldnt go another overtime," Durant said. "I had to live with whatever happened. You had to get out of there. I wasnt trying to go to another overtime. I pulled up for it, it looked good when it left my hands and God guided that thing to the basket, man. That was the craziest game Ive ever been a part of." Vapormax Plus Schweiz .This one was bigger than most.Ben Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell came up big in a game that Pittsburgh had to win Sunday, leading the Steelers to a 42-21 drubbing of the Cincinnati Bengals that left the AFC North race wide open. Air Max 97 Outlet . The 49ers announced the deal Tuesday. San Francisco selected Lloyd in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. http://www.vapormaxkaufenschweiz.com/vapormax-damen-schweiz/vapormax-weiss-outlet.html . The young man, never lacking confidence, thought he could be really good. Nike Vapormax Damen Günstig .com) - Colorado may be ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference standings, but they are a club that the Avalanche may want to avoid in the playoffs. Vapormax Plus Damen Schweiz . "I only want to go through this one more time," Crosby said Friday. The 24-year-old captain hasnt played since the symptoms resurfaced following a loss to Boston on Dec. 5. Doctors allowed him to return to full practice on Tuesday and while Crosby is pleased with the way his body is responding he refuses to put on his return.DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Defending winner Action Express Racing suffered a setback one third of the way through the Rolex 24 at Daytona when the car lost fuel pressure with Joao Barbosa behind the wheel.The No. 5 Corvette DP was running second when it came to a stop at Daytona International Speedway right before the nine-hour mark of the twice-round-the-clock endurance race. Barbosa waited in the cockpit for a tow truck driver to arrive and pull the car back to the garage.It wouldnt drive at all, team manager Gary Nelson said. We fixed it in the dark, so we couldnt get a very good look at it. We found a connector that wasnt connecting, so we re-connected it, but were pretty sure its going to take some more work.Barbosa, along with co-drivers Christian Fittapaldi and Sebastien Bourdais, won the coveted Rolex watches last year. But theres tough competition this year from both of the Chip Ganassi Racing entries, Michael Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, which has finished second the last two years.Ricky Taylor took his fathers team to the front after overcoming early electrical issues in the Corvette.The team is seeking its first Rolex 24 victory since 2005, when Wayne Taylor still drove the car. Now the driving responsibilities are split between sons Ricky and Jordan, as well as Max Angelelli.Ricky Taylor said the team had fought electrical issues the entire week, and thought it found a fix Friday night.Weve been without traction control all week as well as wheel speed sensor and other issues. The team has been absolutely thrashing, he said after his first driving stint Saturday.Instead, the team learned right before the start of the race it wasnt certain it had been fixed, and Ricky Taylor said something felt funny with the throttle pedal at the start. The traction was again lost.He was able to turn the car off during the first pit stop, plug in updates from the ECU, and suddenly all was well.Now we have a car we can go race with, he said.The Ganassi entries showed good speed, and Scott Dixon took early control of the race in the No. 02 star car. The team lost some ground when Tony Kanaan had to take the Ford to the garage for a new front splitter.It allowed the No. 01 entry from Ganassi to spend some time out front, as well aas the Shank team in its new Ligier JS P2 Honda.ddddddddddddThe Shank team felt strongly it had a solid shot to win the race, and Ozz Negri Jr. wasnt concerned after turning the car over to teammate John Pew. Also driving the Shank car is AJ Allmendinger and newcomer Matt McMurry, a 17-year-old who raced last year at Le Mans.I feel things are looking pretty good, Negri said. We are having a little issue with fuel flow, but weve got the pace and are just looking after the car right now. The car is fast enough to win the race.Shank moved to the Ligier and Honda after using Fords since 2008.Meanwhile, Patrick Dempsey was penalized early in the race to hurt his Porsche teams chances of winning its division.Dempsey was the second driver behind the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT, but he was flagged for improperly passing during a wave around.He has kept a low profile at Daytona since he and wife Jillian Fink announced Friday night they were divorcing after 15 years of marriage. Dempsey had done some press interviews on Friday, but skipped Saturdays driver autograph session and wasnt on the starting grid with his teammates before the race.The penalty on Dempsey dropped his team nine laps behind the leaders, but only six laps down in the GT class.It was another abbreviated run for the notorious DeltaWing.The odd-looking car, which showed impressive speed early, retired after just 42 laps Saturday. The DeltaWing left the track with transmission failure and never returned.It was the second straight year the funky-looking sports car failed to finish at Daytona.The DeltaWing retired after 16 hours in 2014 because of transmission failure and finished 61st out of 67 cars. The car was poised to finish last in the 53-car field this year. The latest run was so short that drivers Gabby Chaves, Katherine Legge and Memo Rojas didnt even get behind the wheel.Andy Meyrick drove the opening stint and was battling the leader before he punctured a tire. He battled back from the setback, but then stalled on the 3.56-mile road course with transmission trouble. The team took it to the garage and never returned.We had had a fast car today, but it was not to be, the team posted on its Twitter page. Proud of the job by the whole team this week. ' ' '